Ronen.Dvarim

All your favorites from the Rally and the after party, mixed by Warti and myself:

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After almost a year in Weimar I really should not be surprised about anything, but after finding myself sitting at marktplatz, one of Hitler’s favorite places, drinking beer, singing along with the crowd songs in Yiddish while a group of Germans attempt to dance the Hora behind me I felt that I better figure out what’s going on.

Hora dancing at Marktplatz, 2007 / Hitler speaking at Marktplatz, 1926

When a big guy with a big moustache started signings a Nachman Me’uman song, I knew that that he was the man i should approach to ask some questions. So, it turned out that I sat this guy is Lorin Sklamberg lead vocalist of Klezmatics, one of my much loved bands, and what was going on, was a jam session ofthe participants of the Yiddish Song Workshop, part of Yiddish Summer Weimar The largest Yiddish festival in Germany. The festival that started in 2000, invites musicians to teach Klezmer and holds workshops to hundreds of interested fans or amateur-musicians.

I went to the evening jam sessions all week, many of the musicians were amateur but there were still some moving moments, if not to say some humorous and surrealistic ones. During the sessions I also met Daniel Kahn, from the Berlin based band The painted Bird. He gave their album the Broken Tongue דעס צעבראכענע לשון after I motioned that I organized I event saluting (link in hebrew) the Bund (”Algemeyner Yidisher Arbeter Bund in Lite, Poyln un Rusland” ) in Tel Aviv last year. We started a conversation about Yiddish/Hebrew/Zionist/Israeli culture and politics and found that we share many of the same ideas and are enthusiastic about similar stuff, so besides getting to know another great Jewish music band I feel I also met another comrade. Daniel describes his music as Alienation Klezmer, I’m not sure what that meant but I really liked his political cabaret attitude that was mixed with a folky klezmer flavor. He told me that when he was in Israel the owner of the club he played in asked why he was signing in a dead language. Oi! It really upsets me that young “progressive” Israelis still think in such archaic Zionist ways. I tried to encourage him but I think i was really trying to fool myself by describing the leftist/secular/Yiddish scene in Tel Aviv. But to be honest besides a few wonderful committed individuals I’m not really sure how much of a scene their really is. Unfortunately, i can’t imagine a Yiddish summer in Tel Aviv not to even motion Jerusalem. Ironically in Weimar dozens of young goyim participated nightly at a public outdoor jam session in Yiddish, signing old and new songs, in Tel Aviv I doubt if i could even find a minyan that could sing in Yiddish.

Lorin Sklamberg playing a lovely solo

Danial Kahn singing an old labaor struggle song

klezmer jam session

[audio:radio_rasia_interview.mp3]

דברים שרואים משם לא רואים מכאן

If you know Hebrew you could listen to a nice conversation between me and Mira. If not, I still played some nice songs. Enjoy!

This Sunday and every Sunday at 19:00pm – “Yordim Lamachteret”

The Mira Radio Show @ Radio Rasia.

This week’s guest Star: He is back from the GOLA, the man who graphically designed the revolution. Ronen Eidelman about things that are seen from there that can’t be seen from here @ radiorasia

www.radiorasia.org

or http://giss.tv:8000/status.xsl roll down to radio rasia and play

Artist: Asian Dub Foundation
Title: Colour Line
Album: Community Music
Year: 2000

[audio:colour_line.mp3]

Today the colour line/ is the power line/ is the poverty line
Racism and imperialism work in tandem
And poverty is their handmaiden
Those who are poor and powerless to break out of their poverty
Are also those who by and large are non-white, non-western, third world
Poverty and powerlessness are intertwined in color, in race
Discrimination and exploitation feed into each other today, under global capitalism
We are back to primitive accumulation - plunder on a world scale
Only this time, the pillage is accompanied by aid, sustained by expert advice and underpinned by programmes and polices that perpetuate dependency
The IMF, the World Bank, Structural adjustment programmes
General agreement on tariffs and trade-gatt
Are just a few of the organizations, schemes, projects
Which under the guise of developing the third world. Plunder it
Trade agreements and commodity price fixing, patients and intellectual rights
They lock them into paralytic dependency
There is no such thing as illegal immigrants, only illegal governments
Today, the colour line/ is the power line/ is the poverty line

At the end of our visit at Freienbessingen Refugee Camp, we had coffee Nazim’s and a friend and neighbor of Osman. Nazim who is in a similar situation, lives in a very small apartment with his whole family for many years and was waiting for permission to work. Nazim, who is from Macedonia, showed us how he watches TV from the Balkans with his satellite TV. After watching some terribly kitsch video clips on Albanian TV, I asked him to show what else he watches. Flipping through the channels I Suddenly saw a face that I recognized on Bosnian TV. Osman who saw my excitement quickly started translating to me from the subtitles. I then realized that I don’t need translation and that I was watching one of my favorite bands from Tel Aviv. I was so proud that my homeboys who play “original music and arrangements of Balkan, Jewish, Greek, and Mediterranean songs, seasoned with dueling guitars and a rock attitude,” where being promoted and honoured on a TV station of the place from which much of their music is influenced.
I shared my excitement and told everyone that they are from my hometown and I know them.
When I got home I sent them a email, Of course they were happy to hear my story and that an interview they gave in Spain to the Bosnian TV was shown. They also let me know that they are now touring around North America and Europe so check out their myspace and see if they are in a place near you. If it is not already clear, I highly recommend them, they are great live.

www.boompam.org